What's Love Got To Do With It?
by kitsune21809
Summary: They say that the longest journey begins with a single step, or so Double D had told him once (whatever the fuck that means) and years later he'll look back on this hell of a journey. He'll look back and remember that she'd been the one to take that step, the one to initiate this little adventure of theirs. Eddy/Lee
1. Chapter 1

**I started this over a year ago when my last computer crashed unexpectedly. I had gotten the idea from the countless fanart (really freaking good fanart I might add) I'd been perusing just before it crashed. I was mostly bored when I started writing and it wasn't meant to be this long. But like most of my stuff, it's grown out of hand. The plot is simple. Eddy hooks up with Lee, Lee gets pregnant. All this story is about is life. Something simple that really doesn't need a lot of thought or planning and I can relax when I write it. Chapters are slow going so don't expect a bunch of updates like clockwork. I'll add chapters when I feel like it. A lot of time, when I get back into something when I've been away from it for a while, I'll write an write and end up adding a whole lot of chapters at once so that's good. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and reviews are always welcome.**

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><p><span>What's Love Got To Do With It?<span>

He was nineteen when they got together. It was a Friday and he and the boys had gone to the movies. By some strange twist of fate, she'd been there too, along with her sister, Marie but not May. He'd neither seen nor heard from her since she and May had dropped out in their tenth year. Miraculously, Marie was the only one of the group to make it all the way to graduation.

They say that the longest journey begins with a single step, or so Double D had told him once (whatever the fuck that means) and years later he'll look back on this hell of a journey. He'll look back and remember that she'd been the one to take that step, the one to initiate this little adventure of theirs.

She'd taken the first step, but he'd caught her eye from across the room; leaned cockily back against the snack counter, snaked his arms out beside him, smiled that smarmy, shit-eating grin of his and that was all it took.

She returned his grin with a coy purse of her own lightly glossed lips, and sauntered across the lobby towards him. His eyes weren't even on her face (what he could see of it anyway) anymore. No, those smooth tan legs of hers had caught his greedy (and if Eddy was anything it was greedy) gaze and trailed up further to the tattered, remains of what he supposed had once been jeans cut into a too revealing pair of shorts. With each sway of her hips, each lengthy stride from her long legs, those shorts hitched higher and his shit-eating grin grew in size.

He was vaguely aware of her sister crossing behind her towards Double D who squeaked in surprise and she (Lee) came to a stop in front of him. Leaned back like this, he was shorter than her (he was still short for his age anyway but she was also really tall for a girl) and not liking the way she was looking down at him, he straightened up a little. It wasn't much help, but at least he was even with her now, but she was also wearing god-awful high heels in bright purple animal print, orange toenails peeking through the soles.

His eyes finally left her waist, trailing leisurely over the gaudy yellow tank top stretched taunt across her ample bosom, red polka dot bra (he wondered what her fascination with the pattern was) peeking tantalizingly beneath. Further up to the layers of garish jewelry fastened around her neck, the words 'Rich Bitch' etched in rhinestones settled on her collar. The very phrase almost made him laugh; she lived in a trailer park for fuck's sake! She was the very definition of trailer trash!

Then his eyes landed on that teasing smile, the taunting pile of glossy red it had always been.

"Hey Eddy." Those lips said in that deep, gravel-sultry voice of hers.

"Lee." He grinned broadly, with too much teeth than would have been appropriate. "You're looking well…" He trailed off suggestively, letting the sentence linger and imply what it would. She tilted her head, quirked her lips and placed a perfectly manicured, orange tipped nail against his shirt. It blended easily with the yellow of the fabric, scratched the skin beneath as she trailed it up, grazing his neck just under the collar as she leaned closer. Her breath smiled like cigarettes and mint (menthol?) as she said, "not too bad on the eyes yourself."

He swallowed the nervous jittering in his throat and smiled again, hooded his eyes like his brother had taught him. He liked to think he was something of a player. He'd said as much once to Double D who snorted. 'Your brother bought you a prostitute for your sixteenth birthday that hardly makes you the big 'Daddy Mac'.'

Eddy had frowned, snapped that the phrase was 'Mac Daddy' and if he was going to insult him then do it right and stormed off. But now Double D was looking at him as if he'd lost his mind. Maybe he had.

But Eddy was eighteen now, horny as fuck and didn't think it would kill him overly much if he missed 'Zombie Crushers IV' tonight. Besides, Lee was hot, (understatement of the year) easy and cheap. And Eddy just loves cheap things.

"Whaddya say we get outta here?" She said, nails scratching at the dark stubble decorating his chin. He smirked, swept his hair back like some greaser from the fifties, (god knows it had enough gel in it to qualify) and glanced at Double D and Ed from the corner of his eye. "I don't think I'm up for Zombies tonight you guys, so I'm just gonna blow." He caught her eye, or he thought he did and watched her lips quirk as she deciphered the double entendre there.

She took his hand, led him behind her and left his friends behind him. One sputtering helplessly as the blue haired sister clung to his side and the other slightly confused.

It didn't stop after that night parked out at what the local rowdy boys called 'Oyster Bay' where any number of them had gone 'Pearl Diving' with their girl. They'd had fun (and what eighteen year old boy wouldn't with a hot girl crawling all over him?) and what he'd thought would be a one night stand turned into an every weekend, even a few week days, routine.

So when almost six months passed and he showed up on her doorstep thirty minutes later than he'd intended it shouldn't have surprised him when her mother, Bebe Kanker, came storming out, large arms crossed intimidatingly over her ample chest as she glowered at him.

"Well Eddy, guess who else is late!"

The sack of greasy fast food he brought her (he wasn't a flowers kind of guy) fell to the ground, spilling fries and burgers everywhere. A tingling fear curled around his spine and if she hadn't reached inside her doorway and leveled a pump-action shot gun in his direction, Eddy was sure he would have turned and high tailed it back to his car, breaking the record for fasted getaway out of someone's driveway in the process.

Her mother wanted them to undergo the classic 'shot-gun wedding' and the pun is indeed less funny when it's literal. But even though he was scared shitless of her mother, Eddy would be damned if he was gonna have some bitch threaten him to get married just because her daughter was easy.

He'd stupidly said as much and the ground by his feet exploded in a cloud of gravel, fast food and dirt. Eddy screamed none too manly, skittered back and fell squarely on his ass as he stared petrified up at the woman. "Are you outta your damn mind woman!" He screamed.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the lights of the other trailers come on. Curtains pushed aside, doors cracked open, neighbors peeked out to see what all the commotion was about but no one came to help him. It made him wonder just what kind of fucked up place this was.

"Oh, you'll marry her you little shit!" She yelled, pumping the gun for emphasis. Eddy winced. "Or I'll have you arrested for statutory rape!"

Eddy gaped at her. "Bull_shit! _She's of age!"

"Not until last week she wasn't!"

Every thought in his head shattered except one. _'That lying bi…'_

"Ma, what the hell are you doing?!"

There. The causer of his suffering was hauling ass across the park, from where, he neither knew nor cared at this moment. "What the fuck Lee!" He called angrily.

Lee wrenched the gun from her mother's grip and tossed it aside and they all jumped when it went off, shooting a sizable hole into the rear bumper of their home. "Anna-Lee Kanker!" Her mother screamed furiously and Eddy's mind baulked at the name, it sounded so feminine compared to its owner.

"Eddy, get the fuck out of here!" Lee screamed, turning to him. She didn't need to tell him twice. Eddy scrambled to his feet and to his car in record time, didn't once look back. Though he wished years later he had, when she confessed how hurt she'd been that he hadn't.

But right then, Eddy was nineteen, and now, in a whole lotta trouble.

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><p>They were sitting outback behind Sisson's Auto, taking a smoke break. Well, Eddy was, Double D was just along for the ride, having finished up office work early. Afterwards, he was going to help Eddy with some transmission work, meaning, he'd hand him what he needed while the other boy did all the dirty work. Win, win.<p>

"So," Eddy began, taking a long drag from his cigarette. "How you like workin' here so far?"

It was Eddy who'd gotten him the job as office manager. Perks of being the owner's son and all. And, while they didn't get to help Jack sell the cars (too bad considering Eddy was sure to make one helluva used car salesman) it was an easy way to earn a little extra cash.

"It's not too bad." Edd said. "Waking up hella early sucks, but I'm getting used to it."

He paused and a thought struck him. "Oh, dude, have you ever met that guy that works at Thomson's Garage? Percy or whatever? Guy's a total dick!"

"Patrick?" Eddy said absently, tapping the ashes off his cigarette on the curb. "Yeah, that guy's a douche." He muttered.

"You okay?" Edd asked, slightly concerned. It wasn't like Eddy to be so… quiet.

He sighed and shrugged. "Yeah, I uh…I got a lot on my mind with work and finals coming up. My dad wants me to start paying rent…Lee's pregnant. I think the Dodge might need new breaks."

He paused to take a breath but Double D didn't say anything so he took that as a sign of hope that maybe he hadn't caught the little slip up.

"Also the Dogs lost to Bama. _Again._ Not surprising though, their draft picks for this season were _retarded_."

Double D sighed, scratched his head beneath his beanie, ("Yeah, shit's rough.") paused. "Wait, what?"

Well, shit.

"Did you say Lee's… pregnant?"

Another slow drag on the cigarette, a careless, half assed answer of, 'Yup,' then a disgruntled snarl as he pulled the cigarette out and sneered. "Pfft, shoulda stuck to my old stuff, shit tastes like ass."

"Dude, are you serious?"

Eddy looked at him, brow raised curiously. "It's pretty nasty, man." He shrugged.

"I mean about Lee!" Edd snapped.

Eddy grimaced. "No, I was making a funny." He grinned a broad smile with too many teeth and eyes too wide and desperate. "Can't you see me laughing?"

Double D could only stare at him, eyebrows shot up underneath his hat.

"I am so _screwed!" _Eddy moaned pitifully, dropping his face in his arms. Double D buried his hands in his hoodie pockets and sighed, his breath coming out in a white cloud. "Hate to say I told you so, Eddy but…"

"Double D, I swear I will bury my fist in your face if you finish that sentence!" Eddy growled, dropping his face into his hand and pushing his fingers through his hair.

"That's well…I mean…is it even yours?" He asked, unsure how to broach the matter. The look on Eddy's face just then would have made him laugh if the situation wasn't so…tense. "It better be mine!" He said, jerking his head up affronted, then sobered quickly with a panicked glance at his friend. "I mean, I kinda wish it wasn't…" Pause, same disgruntled furious look. "But still, it better be mine!" Eddy knew it probably wasn't his (secretly hoped it was because wouldn't that just be a bite in the ass to find out she'd fooled around in the short time she was with him). Everyone in the cul-de-sac knew Lee and her sisters were easy. Every boy within six miles claims they've had a roll with her (knew deep down they were lies, Lee was cheap, not free).

"Have you told your parents?" Edd asked.

Eddy sighed, ran nimble fingers through his greasy hair. "Just you…and Ed…which was really stupid because he let it slip to Sarah and she called me up not thirty minutes later."

"What'd _she_ have to say?"

"Uh-Oh, Eddy! Better get down to the abortion clinic and flush that shit out a.s.a.p.! Otherwise you'll lose your girlish figure!" Pause, slow drag, grimace, thick, smoky exhale. "You know, supportive as always."

Edd winced. "Better tell them soon, whole damn town'll know by Monday."

Inhale, pause, slow, more of a sigh than an exhale, then, "Yeah, I know. I'm telling them tonight."

He dropped the stub, ground it beneath the toe of his sneaker. Dropped his head in his hands and groaned, remnants of smoke escaping through his teeth. "Fuck, I hope they don't get mad."

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><p>It was after dinner. He and his dad were in the garage working on changing the brakes on his truck when he finally tried to muster up the courage to tell him. He hadn't said anything yet. Was still trying to work that out, hands idly fiddling with a screwdriver while his dad droned on and on about the problem with the brakes and how to fix them and such.<p>

"After y'remove the old pads, you'll have to compress the piston to make room for the new brake pads…" Jack was saying, bent down beside the truck, examining the old pads in his hands. "Before we do that, these old pads- see how they're worn unevenly?"

Jack didn't look up as he examined the pads and didn't see that his son wasn't paying a lick of attention. Didn't see that Eddy was too focused on flippin a screwdriver around his fingers to really know what he was talkin about.

"In which case, just replacin' em' ain't gonna fix anything…" He went on. "There are a few things that can cause this to happen… what you're gonna wanna check is…" Finally, he looked up when he heard a sharp clang, finding his son staring blankly at the screwdriver where he'd dropped it on the toolbox.

Eddy poked at it a little, nudging it left to right as if it were something entirely alien to him. Jack frowned.

"Is 'ere something really interesting about that screwdriver I ought ta be aware of?" He asked him, his features compressed into an irate frown. Eddy jumped, breaking out of his trance and glanced at his father. "What? Oh, sorry…I just… I already know most of this stuff ya know?"

Jack set the pads down and stood, taking a grimy rag from his belt and wiping the grease off his hands. "Do you?" He asked, fist perched on his hip, thick fingers looped into his belt. "I know you don't think brakes are all that interesting, but there one'a the most important parts of the car…"

Eddy sighed. "Yeah pop, I know, I'm listening."

Jack didn't say anything for a second then turned back to the truck, taking note of the black expression his son wore. "No you ain't. You're makin that face you always make when you ain't payin attention." He scratched his neck. "It's like you got that AD and D or whatever the fuck."

Eddy frowned. "_I __don't_." He half whined half growled. His father turned back, surprising him with a thinly veiled look of concern. "Well, then what's the problem? You've been actin weird as fuck lately."

Eddy didn't say anything at first. Turned back to the toolbox, poked at a loose screw on the surface, chewed at the inside of his cheek and finally sighed, swiping a hand through his hair. "Well, dad…"

Pause.

"I got Lee pregnant."

Any other time, he would have laughed at the expression on his dad's face. At the surprise clearly written there, only to watch as it dissolved into a disappointed scowl. Eddy's stomach clenched and he waited.

"This is gonna break your mother's heart." Jack said turning away from him.

"I know!" Eddy cried, reaching for him. "I just…I need help…I don't know what to do."

His father was silent, contemplating. After a few seconds, he turned, looked over his shoulder at his son. His little boy, grown so suddenly into a man. The thought enraged him, how could he be so careless? His son stood there, looking lost and scared and pitiful at the same time and it broke his heart. But there was nothing Jack could do now, the boy had made his bed …

"Well, you hafta be a man…" Surprise flitted across his young son's face and he had to turn away. He ran a hand through his thinning, black hair and began walking towards the door. "If you're gonna do things that adults do, then you need ta stop acting like a dumb kid and start taking responsibility like an adult."

Eddy was strangely quiet during this little speech. "And find a good place ta live…" His father continued, opening the door leading into the house. "'Cuz now that you think you're an adult, you sure as shit ain't living here anymore!"

Eddy watched numbly as his father slammed the door, leaving him in silence.

Well…shit.


	2. Chapter 2

The macaroni was burning and Lee cursed as she hit ignore on her phone again and shoved it back into her pocket. She pulled the pot off the burner and fanned the smoke with an old magazine. It wasn't too bad, still edible but she opened the window above the stove anyway. She didn't want to get bitched at for burning dinner.

She bent down and pulled a pan of freshly baked can biscuits out of the oven and set it on the sink's edge. Her phone vibrated in her back pocket again and she bit her lip, hit ignore and opened a can of sweet corn and dumped it into a pot.

She didn't want to talk to him.

Not right now.

She turned and leaned against one of the two counters that made up their kitchen. The cabinet door, which was broken to the point that it hung precariously on one hinge, bumped her temple. She pushed it closed but it just swung open again. Lee ran a manicured hand down her face and brushed her bangs out of her eyes though they popped back into place.

She crossed her arms. She couldn't do it. She couldn't raise a baby, not alone. And Eddy...

Well, being Eddy, wasn't likely to help her out either. She should have it aborted. But hell, she couldn't afford the bill for that either. Something, guilt maybe, twisted in her stomach. She didn't think she could even if she did.

There was a _person_ inside of her, depending on her for survival, so who the hell was she to deny it that? But then, how could she take care of someone when she can barely take care of herself?

She looked around. Their trailer, while cleaner than most, could still pass for a dump by anyone with money or high standards. She didn't want to raise a child in this, dirt poor, struggling to scrape by to pay the bills or put food on the table. What kind of a life was that?

Her phone vibrated in her pocket and angrily she turned it off, threw it on the fold out table pushed against the far wall.

"Lee! What the hell are you doing in there?" Her mother yelled from the living room. She didn't have to yell; Lee could have easily poked her head around the door and saw her sitting slumped on the couch, beer in hand as she watched re-runs of Maury.

"Nothin!" She hollered back. "I dropped something."

"Don't you be makin a mess in that kitchen after I went through the trouble of cleanin it!"

She looked around at the grime caked in the corners of their torn linoleum floor, the stained white surface of the fold out table and the grease spots lining the edge of the stove. A roach skittered under the fridge and she scoffed.

"I'm not."

But would it really be so bad? To have someone to care for, to love and give all the love she barely received in her own childhood? Not that it was a bad one, but with her mother gone all the time with the next sleezebag she'd managed to hook up with or working late shifts at the Five and Dime… it had mostly been her and her sisters.

She took the corn off the stove and fixed her mama a plate. Macaroni, two biscuits, some corn and some left over fried chicken from last night's dinner. Bebe was laid up on the couch, half draped across the arm with her curly red hair loose and wet around her shoulders. Lee sighed. She'd have to wait an hour before there'd be enough hot water for her own shower.

Lee glanced at her sisters who each sat silently, one on the other end of the couch, one in the plastic chair across. "Go fix your plates." She said, waving her arm behind her as she dropped her mother's plate on the smaller fold out table in front of her.

She heard one of the kitchen chairs squeak as it was pulled out. Good, her sisters were eating in the kitchen, which means she wouldn't have to sit in here and have Bebe glare at her the whole time.

"Lee! You got a problem?" Her mother snapped. She took a paper plate from under the cabinet and started fixing her plate. "No."

"Then don't be slammin shit down!"

She sighed. Bebe was probably well on her way to being drunk off her ass. She didn't need this shit right now. "Yes ma'm."

Bebe glared at the kitchen doorway where her eldest lingered in front of the stove, wiping it down with a dirty rag. "You need to take your ass down to the abortion clinic. We don't have no room in this house for another mouth to feed!"

"I ain't got any money, mama." Lee said.

"Then you get some money! You're gonna learn to take some responsibility for your mistakes!"

Lee ignored her, thinking how backwards that sounded. Taking responsibility would be keeping the baby and raisin it like she's supposed to. She is its mother after all, and if a baby ain't got not mother and no father then what _does_ it got? Marie pushed her food around with her fork as she watched her eldest sister. "You talk to Eddy yet?"

Lee shook her head. "No. I don't need to." She set her plate on the table between them and went to get a can of coke out of the fridge. "He ain't gonna want to help anyway."

"You should at least make him pay child support." May said around her chicken.

Lee scoffed. Yeah and what? Give him a one way ticket straight to jail, because that's how that little idea would play out. She didn't need the drama and she didn't want to put him or their child through that. Eddy was a good guy, a little sleazy but…

She shook her head, unsure why she was defending him. Maybe she should make him pay, if she was gonna raise their baby by herself, she was gonna need a little help…if she decided to raise it at all.

"What are you gonna do?" Marie asked her quietly. Lee nibbled at her food. Abortion was out, she didn't have the money or the stomach for it, truth be told. The more she thought about the person growing inside her, the more she wondered about it. Would it have red hair or black? Blue eyes or green? Would it be a boy? Girl? What if it had her freckles or his dimples?

She shook her head. Truth be told, she'd already made her mind up in that gas station bathroom when that little strip turned blue and changed everything.

She needed to look for an apartment. Somewhere close to her job at Peggy's Diner. She didn't have a car, hell, she didn't even have a bike.

"I guess I can ask for an advance on my paycheck. That would help me put a down payment on an apartment." She said. May's eyes widened. "You're moving out?"

"Mama's right. There's no room for another mouth to feed. And I can't just…"

Suddenly, Bebe was _there_, looming over them with a scowl so big and frightening that for the first time in years, Lee was a little scared of her.

"So I guess you think you're cute now?" The woman all but growled. "That ain't gonna help nothin! Take your ass down to the abortion clinic!"

Lee pushed away from the table and stalked around her towards her room, her appetite all but forgotten now. "You should've kept your fucking legs shut! Just 'cause you went and got knocked up by some punk-ass boy, you think your something fuckin special? Fuck you and fuck him!"

When it was clear that her daughter didn't plan on stopping, Bebe screamed, "Lee!" She kicked the fold out table in front of the couch, sending it flying into the wall. The plate of chicken and scorched macaroni flew through the air, smattering the frayed cushions of their couch. "Lee, don't walk away when I'm talking to you!"

Lee stopped and turned around.

"You brought that bastard in my house!? Talkin some stupid shit like he loved you? _He don't love you Lee!_ That boy ain't showed his face around here since last Saturday!" She screamed, her face turning red. Lee licked her lips and clenched her fists. She didn't want to fight with her mother while she was drunk. It wasn't right and never ended well. The best thing she could do right now was leave until she sobered up a little.

But her mother had a bad habit of saying some hurtful things when she was drunk.

"Mama." Marie put a hand on the woman's shoulder, trying to pull her back towards the couch but her mother shrugged her off. "So now you think you're a woman, huh? You think being a mother is all fun and games?! You don't know shit!" She picked up a mason jar full of coke and hurled it at her. Lee ducked as it shattered against the door to her left, spraying her with the sticky liquid. She stared at her mother with glaring wide eyes. "Mama, have you lost your mind?!"

"You think you can sit there and talk shit about leavin and look down on me 'cause I'm tellin you to get an abortion? You think that makes you a better woman?"

Lee shook her head. "I didn't…"

"I'm gon' tell you what real women do, Lee! Real women _sacrifice!_ I was younger than you when I got pregnant and I should have aborted _your_ stupid ass but I didn't! I swore the day the doctor put you in my _goddamn hands_, you were gon' be better than me! And then you go and _fuck it all up_!" She reached down and grabbed the old glass ashtray beside the couch and hurled that at her too. It, being heavier than the mason jar, didn't shatter so much as just dented the wall then hit the floor and broke in two.

Lee felt the burn behind her eyes, felt her lip quiver. She was hard hearted, like most of the women in her family, but this cruelty was tearing at the protective walls she'd erected around herself. "Well, you won't have to worry about this _fuck up_ much longer, Mama." She screamed back, hurling all the pain and hurt back at her attacker. "I'll leave and get my own place and you won't ever have to look at your fuck up of a daughter ever again!"

"Fine! You think you're so great? Go! But don't you come back here, crying when you and that baby are out on the street, because that boy ain't sure as hell ain't gon' help you!"

Lee wrenched the door open. "I don't need you or him, you goddamn hateful bitch! And you're crazy if you think I'll ever bring my child around you, you fuckin lunatic!"

She stormed out as he mother started screaming at her again, watched as the lights in the neighbors' homes flicked on one by one. She didn't care, let em stare. It was none of their damn business anyway.

The playground was a couple of blocks away; she'd wait there until her mother went to bed. Tomorrow, she'd start looking for an apartment.

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><p>He tried to call Lee but after the sixth time of it going straight to voice mail he growled and grabbed his keys. He needed to talk to her; <em>they<em> needed to talk about this dammit! It wasn't a long drive to the trailer park. Hell, he could've walked but he wanted a quick getaway if things went sour. But when he passed the playground on the way, he almost squealed to a stop as he saw her sitting in one of the swings, bent over with her head in her hands.

He thanked whatever deity that decided to smile on him in that moment. He had been dreading seeing her mother again. Eddy parked and slammed the door shut as he got out, mainly to get her attention. It worked; she looked up and glared at him.

"Go home, Eddy."

"Dammit Lee!" He hollered as he stalked towards her. "I've been calling you all night! Why have you been ignoring my calls?!"

"Did you ever think maybe I just didn't want to talk to you?" She stood up, started back towards the trailer park. He grabbed her roughly by the arm and pulled her back. "Well, tough shit!" He growled. "When were you gonna tell me, huh? _Were_ you gonna tell me?"

"Yes…No. I don't know!" She jerked away from him and plopped back down into the swing. "No. I wasn't. It wouldn't have changed anything…"

"The fuck does that mean?!" He snapped. "Dammit, Lee! You didn't even give me a chance!"

"What does it matter, Eddy? Do you really plan on sticking around with me and a kid you didn't even want for the rest of your life?" Her chest hurt, the events of the night started to catch up to her and suddenly, Lee wasn't so sure of herself anymore. Her head was pounding, it was cold as fuck and she'd forgotten her jacket when she'd stormed out of the house like that. She wanted to go to bed, sleep it off and forget this whole thing ever happened.

But Eddy wasn't done with her yet.

"Well, it's not like I really have a choice now do I?"

Lee glared at him. Who the fuck was he kidding? "Well, I'm giving you a choice, you rat bastard! Walk away!" He stared at her in confusion and it pissed her off more than anything. "Well, go on!" She stood, pushed him until he stumbled backwards on the loose gravel. "We don't need you or mama! I can take care of my own damn self and anyone else who comes along!"

Something changed in his expression when she mentioned her mother. He knew how hard the woman was on her, had picked her up countless times when she'd left home after a big fight. He glared at her. "Well, too fucking bad!" The words few out of his mouth before he really had a chance to think about them. But they felt right. He grabbed her shoulders, his hands slid down her arms and held her steady as a wind blew past them, swiping her bangs away to reveal her eyes staring wide at him. "It's my kid and if I want to be a part of its life, I have every fuckin right to be!"

Silence stretched between them.

He didn't expect her to start crying but as those fat, salty tears rolled over her cheeks from beneath her bangs he let her go faster than if she'd hit him. But Lee wasn't about to put up with that, not now. As soon as he did, she lurched forward wrapping her arms around him beneath his open jacket and buried her face into his neck as her shoulders shook with sobs she had too long suppressed.

Eddy had never seen her cry, had never even seen her lip quiver so for a while he just stood there, not sure what else to do. But as she started to lose her breath from all the crying and he thought she'd pass out from all the strain, he finally came to his senses. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, rocking slightly on his heels like he always did when she was upset. The familiar motion seemed to calm her down enough that she wasn't practically hyperventilating into his neck. Rain started to fall around them, the heavy drops cold on their skin. She shivered, whether from the cold or the exertion from her crying he wasn't sure but he pulled away none the less and threw his jacket around her. "C'mon." He said, putting an arm around her shoulders as he led her back to his truck.

"I don't wanna go home." She said sharply, moving away from him. He tightened his grip on her and pulled her back. "I'm not taking you home." He said, fishing his keys out of his pocket and muttering. "At least not to that dump trailer."

He opened the door for her and helped her inside then ran around the front of the tuck as the rain came down harder. Climbing inside, he slammed the door, turned the ignition and cranked up the heat.

She leaned against the passenger door as he pulled out of the parking lot, head pressed up against glass as she tried to shut herself off from him. She looked so small like that, wrapped in his jacket, curled in on herself as if the entire world was out to get her. Eddy sighed and reached over to grab her arm. Without a word he pulled her to his side and just as silently, she tucked her head against his shoulder and wrapped an arm around his waist.

He kept his eyes on the road and one hand on the wheel as he drove but he could still feel her. Her breath on his skin, her fingers clenched in his shirt. She was shaking again and he rubbed her shoulder with his free hand almost as an afterthought.

Thoughts buzzed through his mind in a whirlwind of images and emotions. This was it, no going back now. She'd given him a chance to walk away and what had he done?

_The right thing._ His conscience argued. And with that little tidbit of a thought, Eddy sighed.

"I'm sorry." She whispered finally, though he wasn't sure what she was sorry for. He decided not to dwell on it.

"Yeah…" he said softly. "Me too."


End file.
